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Refinishing mag valve body.

I have an older valve body and was thinking about having it cerakoted to match the rest of my mag. Was wondering if this would cause an alignment issue, due to the increased diameter thickness. What do you all think?

Yes it could. Tape your body and place it on the rail. While it is on the rail cut away all exposed tape. Then remove your body from the rail and you should have a masked off body that you can paint. The masked off area will allow the unpainted body section to sit on the rail without affecting the tolerances. You will only be able to see the painted body sections above the rail, so it will look completely painted.

Except for the Automag in front, its usually the man behind the equipment that counts.

Finally got to talk to the shop that I want to do my valve. They assure me that the finish will not be any thicker than a sheet of notebook paper. And if need be they can do masking . I hope to have the project wrapped up In the next couple of weeks, still have to finish design and machining on my pump parts.

The paint thickness becomes twice the distance. The distance is increased by that amount at the front of the sear and that amount at the back of the sear. It means that the on-off pin will be affected by twice the thickness of the coating.

Cerakote is applied at less than 1mil. Which means at most you would have a 2mil addition in thickness to your valve (.002") depending on the tolerances your rail was machined with it will likely be fine. I do this every day and I have not had an issue. If you are worried though mask anywhere the valve will touch another piece of metal. Peal the mask off and it will fit as normal leaving only visible areas coated

I figured I would take a chance on it. If it is too thick,I can always sand down the area where it sits on the rail.

As long as it is a quality shop it will be fine. It is a very thin coating. Just make sure they are using an oven cure ceramic or you will see durability issues with an air cure. If they do not do a good etch on it, proper acetone bath, or they handle it with bare hands it will not be a quality finish and it will come off.

I appreciate your insights on this. The shop I am using, builds custom firearms., they have done work for me before. They did the frame on my regular shooter over a year ago and looks as good as the day I got it done.